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How many encoders are needed to control an H/slide drive?
We're planning on going an H drive this year, and our coder says that he wants five encoders, one on each wheel.
My interpretation of H-drive is basically that it is a tank drive with an extra wheel in the middle. This should mean that both wheels on the left and right are being driven in the same direction at the same rate- because of this I think that one encoder per side is fine, as the wheels will be driven with the same motors and gearboxes in an identical manner- our coder says that, because the two wheels on a side wont be driven by the same motor/gearbox, we will need to place an encoder on each wheel to correct for any tiny variations.
To me this seems excessive and inconvenient (5 encoders will take up all our DIO ports on the roborio, requiring me to expand it). I just wanted your opinions on whether we truly need an encoder on every single wheel.
EDIT: I should clarify, the encoders are for autonomous stuff, we're not really planning on using them in teleop
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